Ex-Premier League striker Bobby Zamora believes Dominic Solanke can help drag Tottenham up the table.
Spurs dropped into the relegation zone after losing to Aston Villa last weekend, then slipped to the very bottom when Fulham took a point off Manchester United. They get a chance to escape the bottom three when they host United straight after the international break. Zamora, who netted 47 times in 247 top-flight games, told football.london that Solanke could become a difference-maker once Roberto De Zerbi gets his build-up style working.
According to Zamora, De Zerbi’s approach is built on playing out from the back, sharp passing patterns and breaking through the opposition’s lines. He thinks the final third, the toughest part of the game to get right, will be tackled in time, and that the squad is probably spending most of its training on fundamentals for now. Once everything clicks, he expects Solanke to flourish. Zamora also sees Spurs finishing around 10th this season, then pushing on next year, though he admits the heavy summer spending has raised the pressure on them. Even so, he says he’s spotting signs of improvement.
The 29-year-old striker has managed just one goal in seven appearances this term, coming in the Carabao Cup second-round win over Charlton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in August. Zamora argues that strikers need early goals to stay confident when a chance falls their way, but says Spurs simply haven’t created enough openings as a team, something he expects to change.
Richarlison told the club late in the summer that he wanted out and was dropped from the Premier League squad. He scored 11 goals and set up four in 32 league games last season. Xavi Simons, meanwhile, is out with an ACL injury suffered in April and isn’t expected back until next year.
That leaves Solanke and Omar Marmoush to carry the scoring load. Zamora, who also played for West Ham, Fulham, Brighton, QPR, Spurs and Bristol Rovers, says whichever of them scores first will have the chance to secure the number one striker’s spot and build a strong season on it.
On Richarlison, who has entered the last year of his deal with a 12-month extension option, Zamora describes both him and De Zerbi as fiery personalities and doubts there’s any patching up to be done. He suspects Richarlison’s head was turned by the prospect of a move, and that a heated exchange led to the club deciding to let him go. Zamora thinks Spurs could use another striker and that Richarlison will be missed, but reckons that if he leaves in January, the fee could fund a replacement.
